The Root of the Problem
by Lady Wild
Summary: When Naruto wishes to be able get to the root of the ‘cycle of hatred’ and Senju-Uchiha problem, a kodoma sends him and the vengeful Sasuke into the past. A time of dead heroes where there’s no Konoha for Naruto protect or Sasuke to destroy. Time travel!
1. Chapter 1

**The Root of the Problem**

**By Lady Wilde**

**Summary:** When Naruto wishes to be able get to the root of the 'circle of hatred' and Senju-Madara problem, a grateful kodoma grants his wish and sends him and the near insane Sasuke into the past. A time where there's no Konoha for Naruto protect or Sasuke to destroy. Time Travel!

Note: Hahaha, another overdone time travel fic, but this time to a time there's no Konoha. Not as exciting as meeting Naruto meeting his dead father or whatnot, but I think it's super exciting to meet the shodai and nidaime. I mean, that's where all the problems started in my opinion. Thank you for reading and please read and review!

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Chapter 1: Sawagu-chan

If there was one thing he wanted right now, it was ramen. Miso pork ramen with extra meat and even his name sake fish cakes. He wanted Ichiraku's miso pork ramen to be exact, with Teuchi-ji-san's delicious signature broth and his homemade noodles.

Instead of ramen, however, Naruto's mouth tasted his salty blood, and from time to time dirt, twigs and leaves lodged itself into this mouth. He spat it out, pissed off, and thought –damnit I want some nice warm ramen!

And the only thing between that ramen and him, was the bastard Sasuke who decided that it was everyone's fault that his family was dead. The arrogant bastard also decided he wanted to kill Naruto also, and Naruto welcomed his challenge. He needed to beat some sense into his insane friend, save Konoha, eat Ichiraku's ramen all without dying or killing anyone. If he wasn't worthy of being Hokage after he succeeds in beating Sasuke to pulp, he might take up murdering the elders as well (Ok, so not really. Naruto decided they weren't good enough for him to break his vow of no-killing.)

It had been two days, and damn he was exhausted. The kyuubi chakra kept him going of course, but there was a part of him that wanted the warmth and comfort of good ramen, not the feeling of anxiety and dread as he slipped in out of the shadows trying to find Sasuke, or defending himself from Sasuke's sneaky attacks.

Two days ago they had a major showdown, which didn't completely well, finish, so it really wasn't a showdown. Not yet. The duration of the two days after that was the two of them chasing each other in the forest, playing a dangerous game of hide and seek. As a kid Naruto never really got to play hide and seek, at least a fair game of it anyways, and he laughed bitterly at the thought of him playing the game now with his enemy/friend with his entire world on the line. Pretty damn intense for the first time, eh?

Presently, he was leaning against a rather large tree, resting but still completely alert. Night was falling on the second day. He cursed—he had to finish this and fast because there was also the psychotic Madara he needed to worry about. He wondered briefly if insanity was also a Uchiha blood trait. All the Uchihas he'd known (which wasn't many), had been borderline insane or were already certifiably psychotic.

Sighing, Naruto glanced around and spotted, among the wild weeds, a worn down stone altar. He stared at it for a while, suddenly feeling sympathetic looking at the forgotten, abandoned state of the altar and whatever spirit or god it was supposed to belong to. Without thinking, he walked over to the altar and pulled the weeds away, revealing a very humble and cracked small altar, and a small cup in front which held what looked like a pit of a peach. Looking at the shriveled and dried state of the pit, Naruto guessed it was must have been here for a very very long time.

Suddenly, there was a change in the wind, and Naruto looked up just in time to see a something green and white attack him and knock him onto his back. He felt silky material wrap around his neck and strange warmth coming from them. He realized that someone was hugging him, and wondered in shock how he didn't hear this person sneak up on it.

"Thank you thank you!" a girl's voice squealed as he felt the grip around his neck get tighter. Shit, did this girl mean to kill him? Was it Sasuke in disguise? This certainly wasn't Sasuke's style…

"Get off me!" he growled, pushing the body off and gasping for breath. He looked up to see a girl, perhaps the same age as him, stare at him with teary, round eyes. She was wearing a rather cumbersome looking green and white kimono and her long black hair was all over the place. Where the hell did she appear from?

"OH, I am so sorry!" the girl exclaimed, "Did I hurt you in any way! Sorry sorry! It's been a while since I had human contact!"

Human contact…what? "What are you? Where did you come from!"

She grinned at him, "I am the kodoma of this tree!" She gestured to the large tree in front of them, "One of the few kodoma around here that I hasn't gone to sleep eternally! I have no real name, but the last man I met gave me the name of Sawagu-chan*! Call me Sawagu-chan!"

"Sawagu-chan?" repeated Naruto. Certainly fits her. "What were you thanking me for?"

"For clearing those terrible demonic weeds!" she answered, smiling broadly, "I have been stifled for so long and here you are, coming to save me! Please, my hero, tell me your name and I shall grant you a wish!" She was practically bouncing with happiness. She reminded him of the idiotic, younger him.

Naruto blinked. The lack of proper food and sleep must have been getting to him. He was hallucinating! Or, perhaps this was another of Sasuke's illusions. Maybe he's been in Sasuke's illusion for a really long time and didn't know it. He glanced at the self proclaimed kodoma—still not Sasuke's style.

"Come on!" she pleaded, taking his hands before he could pull away, "Tell me your name and a wish!"

"Uzumaki Naruto…" Naruto said slowly, "A wish, huh?"

"Yup, anything you want! Except bringing people back to life. I draw the line there!"

Naruto pursed his lips in thought—he was going crazy, it seems. And he was just making fun of the Uchihas for being insane too!

"Anything I want?" he asked Sawagu-chan with a disbelieving chuckle. The girl nodded.

"Huh…well, the one thing I would want is to stop this whole cycle of hatred that's been going on, yeh know? I want to get to the root of the problem and solve this whole mess we're in." Naruto sighed. There was no way she could grant that wish if she really could grant wishes! But that was what he really wanted most of all—the solve this idiotic bloody problem. "Well, since there's no way a single wish can accomplish that, I'll just wish for Ichira—"

"I'll do it!" she exclaimed excited, pulling black the sleeves of kimono to reveal some deadly pale arms.

"What?" Naruto said, dumbfounded, "Wait, how can you—"

"I'll send you back in time to fix the problem Naruto-kun! The root of the problem! I can do that using the kyuubi chakra in you!"

"W-hat?! How do you know I had the kyuubi?!"

"I know everything about you, Naruto-kun."

"Then why'd you ask for my name in the first place?"

"Because if I said I knew you right of the bat, you would think it's weird like I'm some sort of stalker!"

"If you were a kodoma, I wouldn't think that! Besides, you can't time travel!"

"Can too!" Sawagu-chan protested, "With the right amount of chakra, like the kyuubi chakra I can! So let me grant your wish!"

"You're insane…" What's up with him and being attacked by insane people?

"Insanity is the eye of the beholder, Naruto-kun!" she said sagely, before suddenly tapping Naruto's forehead protector several times.

Naruto scrunched up his face, irritated, "What was that--?" But he could barely finish his thought he suddenly felt drowsy and crashed to ground, already deep in sleep. Smiling, she placed a palm over Naruto's face and her face twisted in concentration. Yup…borrowing the kyuubi chakra and using the power to rip through time---and the destination—her hands were glowing and Naruto's entire body was glowing too.

"What are you doing to Naruto!" a voice exclaimed as Sawagu-chan looked up and around. Uchiha Sasuke appeared in the clearing, looking shocked and appalled that someone else had knocked out Naruto and was doing strange things to him. That was his job! Why was everyone doing everything he wanted to do?! He wanted to destroy Konoha, but that bastard Pain did that before him! He wanted to kill Naruto, and this little freak of girl had easily knocked out the blond. Was there no fairness in the world?!

"Wait, don't come closer of you'll get sucked in too!" she shouted at him, "Stay back Uchiha Sasuke!"

So the girl knew who he was. But it was too late, he had already taken a couple more steps towards her. He suddenly felt nauseous, and felt an invisible heaviness crush him and sent him reeling to the ground. What the hell was that? What was going on?! He looked over to the girl who was staring at him with interest. Her hands were glowing white, and Sasuke noticed that he was glowing too. Who was this girl?

She smiled at him and said, "Oh well. You'll go too! Buh-bye! Say hi to Hashirama-kun for me, and tell him the peaches were delicious, or will be delicious! Tell him don't forget to actually to offer them to me!"

_What?

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_

"Are they dead?"

Another voice: "They're obviously breathing, so no, Tobirama, they are not dead."

"You don't have to be so cheeky! I obviously can't see them breathing from up here!"

"What's that metal thing on the blond's head?" another voice asked. Metal thing? Naruto snorted mentally as his consciousness started to rise.

"Madara, that other kid looks like he could be an Uchiha! Recognize him?"

What? Did somebody say Madara?! Shit shit shit! What was he doing sleeping? Did that girl and Sasuke do something to him now that he was captured?! That Sawagu-chan traitor!

Naruto jerked his eyes opened and sat up quickly, his hands slipping down to fish out and kunai. He instinctively looked around to see four men surrounding him, men he obviously had never seen before. None of them were wearing forehead protectors, although they looked like they were very much like shinobis. However, they were wearing armor—something Naruto hasn't seen much except in old photos and textbooks.

Where the hell was he? And what did the girl do to him? Wait, more importantly, somebody said Madara!

"The blond one just woke up," the man perched on the tree above them commented unnecessarily. Naruto looked up at him, taking in the red eyes, the white hair and the strangely familiar visage. He looked around at the men surrounding him carefully—one very familiar looking man with long dark hair (where have I seen him before?), the other two had long black hair too, and their resemblance to Itachi and Sasuke was striking. Uchihas? Naruto hissed mentally at them and gave them suspicious eyes. _I thought they were all dead except for the psychotic Madara and Sasuke._

"Step back Madara," the man perched on the tree said, "I think you're scaring the kid." Naruto started at the name Madara and looked the two Uchihas—was one of them Madara? What happened to that annoying orange spiral mask? His hair suddenly grew longer? No, he had no time to be thinking about such things. Naruto leapt to his feet, surprising the men, and took a couple of steps backward. He legs hit something warm and he fell over whatever it was. Cursing, he scrambled to his feet again and looked down to find, in shock, a peacefully sleeping Sasuke. Sasuke is here too? Sawagu-chan got him too?

He turned to men and spat, "Which one of you is Uchiha Madara?"

The men exchanged amused expressions, before the man with the long, dark hair who _really_ looked like Sasuke stepped forward with a teasing grin on his lips.

"That would be me," he answered.

"What did you do to me and Sasuke!" he shouted, raising the kunai at the man, "Was that girl in league with you?!"

Madara merely blinked at him, looked at this companion, then back at him and said, "What are you talking about?"

"You! You're after me!"

The left brow of Uchiha Madara twitched, "What? You brat, coming out of nowhere accusing me of weird things! I ought to—"

"Okay, okay, calm down, everyone!" one of the other man interjected, stepping forward also. Unlike Madara, this man had a more kind and relax atmosphere, and Naruto swore he looked really really familiar! He couldn't quite put a finger on who exactly the man looked like.

"Stay back," Naruto warned, "This all your illusion, isn't it Madara! I'm not going to let you get me, Sasuke or destroy Konoha!"

Madara's eyes turned livid, "What the hell…this kid! Hashirama let me just punch the idiot! Maybe it'll do him some good!"

"Madara!" the man called Hashirama snapped in warning.

Naruto blinked. Hashirama? Now, Naruto's worse subject in the ninja academy was history (which is saying a lot). Boring crap about dead people didn't interest him. But, as a fan of the Hokage, he did know some things about the four dead heroes, and one of the things he knew (perhaps only a few of the things he knew) about them was their name. The shodai, Senju Hashirama, and the nidaime, Senju Tobirama.

Hashirama?

Hah. You got to be kidding. Now he knew who that man resembled. Of course in living flesh and color, it was kind of hard to recognize right off the bat. The stony face of the first Hokage was now flesh and bones, and was looking at him, breathing the same air as him. Senju Hashirama was standing in front him. That man he recognized on the tree—Senju Tobirama? Have to be. But how? Then he suddenly connected the dot—didn't Sawagu-chan say something about time traveling? Did he just time travel? That means the first and the second is alive, the Uchiha clan still active and Madara hasn't become that freak of nature that he was (or will be) in the future?

"Hey kid," said Senju Hashirama, approaching him rather cautiously, "Are you alright? How do you know Madara?"

"Uh…" was all Naruto could get out at first.

"Madara, what did you do now?" said Tobirama, jumping down from the tree.

Madara rolled his eyes and growled, "What are you asking me for? I did nothing."

"The kid said you destroyed Konoha?" said Hashirama, looking down at Naruto with concerned eyes, making Naruto become more and more nervous being stared down by the first dead Hokage, "What is Konoha?"

Naruto blinked. So Konoha have not been created yet? Shit. Naruto gulped and answered, rather uncertainly, "…A good name for a village?"

Hashirama quirked his eyebrows at this, and Madara said, "What? That's a terrible name for a village!"

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A/N: Thus starts the animosity between Konoha and Madara!

Haha, thank you for reading! Please leave some reviews or comments! I deeply deeply appreciate it!

*Sawagu means 'to be excited'.

When I put kodoma, people think of the cute little guys from Princess Mononoke. Here I'm just using it was a word for a tree dwelling spirit which kodomas are, but they don't necessarily look like the cute little guys from Princess Mononoke.


	2. Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?

**The Root of the Problem**

_Lady Wilde_

_A/N: Thanks for all the faves and alerts and reviews! I'm glad my story entertains you, which is what ff is supposed to do! Thank you so much! Sorry this was slow. I'm in the middle of finals! Anyways, thanks again!_

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**Chapter 2**: _Who_ are you? Who are _you_? Who_ are_ you?

Naruto was half ready to believe he ate some bad mushrooms in the forest by accident, but that would not necessarily explain the warm, in-the-flesh all too real hand of the first Hokage wrapping white gauze around his injured arm (Sasuke's handiwork). It was way too surreal to see the second Hokage poking at the still unconscious Uchiha Sasuke while the other two, now named as Uchiha Madara and Izuna, watched with an expression of haughty boredom.

"Uzumaki Naruto, is it?" said the Hashirama, tying off the end of the bandage and tucking it into the wounded cloth. Naruto noted how gentle and nimble his hands were despite the rough calluses on his fingers. He nodded numbly, staring at his bandaged arm. This is real. This is _too real_. He actually time-traveled! That Sawagu-chan kodoma wasn't kidding!

"Would you happen to be part of the Uzumaki clan from the north?" inquired Uchiha Izuna.

Clan? Naruto stared at Izuna, looking visibly confused. There was an Uzuamki clan? Now way…he's never heard of this! Was he related to this clan then?

"Hm, by the look on your face, I guess not," Izuna said with a small chuckle, "Although…the name Uzuamaki isn't common."

"Never of heard of them?" asked Tobirama. Naruto shook his head, "I'm the only Uzumaki I know…" _Well, in the future._ Of course, it made sense he wasn't told about any Uzumaki clan. Even Kakashi-sensei never thought to tell him he was son of the Fourth Hokage…

"They're an interesting group of people that live in the north," said Tobirama. He pointed down at Sasuke and asked, "This friend of yours have a name?"

"Uch..er…" he caught himself. Should he tell them that Sasuke was an Uchiha? He decided probably not yet. "Er…Sasuke…"

"Come again?" said Hashirama, puzzled, "What was his last name?"

"No idea," Naruto lied before he could stop himself.

"Sasuke," repeated Madara, nodding in approval "Now that's a good name. A strong name. But _Naruto_? The person who named you must've been drunk at the time. Who the hell name their kid after a fishcake?"

_The Fourth Hokage_, Naruto thought irritably as he looked at Uchiha Madara. Naruto decided he and Madara were destined to be enemies, no matter what the timeline. He was so much like Sasuke it pissed him off—the good looking face, the arrogance, that—that Uchiha-ness! Izuna, the brother, was no better, but he seemed to tone down the 'I-am-Uchiha-therefore-naturally-infinitely-more-talented-than-thou' atmosphere the other two exuded.

Naruto hmphed and exclaimed, "It's a name of a future hero, so don't forget it!" _Seriously_, thought Naruto, _don't you forget it because I'm the one who's gonna kick your ass in the future_! It was then a thought struck Naruto—he was in the past (yes yes, for the hundredth time), that meant he could change the course of things, right? He could make sure Uchiha Madara doesn't become a threat to Konoha, and thus he would have nipped the problem in the bud! He would not have to kick Madara's ass in the future if that was the case, nor will Sasuke have reason to be an evil, angry avenger. Excellent! So this is why Sawagu-chan sent him back to grant his wish! Not bad, not bad at all…

"You got spirit, Naruto-kun," Tobirama said with an approving smirk, "But you lack proper shinobi fashion sense."

Naruto blinked, "What?" _Fashion sense?_

"That orange is unbecoming of a soldier of the shadow," said Hashirama, chuckling, "That's what he's saying. Although, I think it's quite unique. Not something I would wear for anything involving being stealthy, however."

"Unless you were in a field of oranges," offered Izuna with a laugh, "Or tub of orange juice…"

"Or a field of sunflowers," added Hashirama with a grin.

Naruto pouted, not liking that the past Hokages were making fun of his clothes, "I've never had a problem with it before."

"Then you must be really inexperienced, really lucky or really powerful that stealth isn't a problem," Tobirama said, "Which one is it I wonder?"

Naruto opened his mouth the answer but stop as he saw Sasuke starting to stir. He froze, remembering just what Sasuke and he were doing before they were thrown into the past by an overzealous tree sprit. Before he knew it, he was up on his feet, kunai in hand in a defensive position. Hashirama looked startled, Tobirama surprised, Izuna frowned and Madara looked immensely intrigued.

Naruto watched anxiously as Sasuke groaned, opened his eyes and glanced around groggily. It took the Uchiha a few moments to regain his full senses it seems, because only after some time looking around dazed and confused did he suddenly jump to his feet, reaching for his katana. He looked around wildly, taking in his new surroundings with cautious eyes. He still had not spotted Naruto. His legs were strangely weak, and one knee gave in suddenly and he fell onto it.

"Woah there, kid," said Hashirama, taking a hold of Sasuke's shoulders, "Take it easy." Sasuke looked up, looking irritated but his expression changed immediately seeing Hashirama's face. _So you recognize him too, Sasuke,_ thought Naruto.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "_Who_ are you?"

_Hm, maybe not. _Before Naruto could call out for Sasuke, Uchiha Madara had stepped towards him. Naruto jumped when he saw Madara's eyes red with the activated Sharingan. The older Uchiha spoke, "The question is: who are _you_? That is the Uchiha crest you are wearing on your back."

Sasuke whipped around, and Naruto mentally cringed when the Sasuke's eyes widened significantly when he saw Madara, no doubt thinking the same thing Naruto thought when he first woke up. Worse, with the sharingan activated, there was no doubt to Sasuke that the man was an Uchiha, and there was no hiding from the men that Sasuke was an Uchiha. Stupid Sasuke wearing his clan's fan so openly! Naruto wondered if Sasuke recognized him as Madara.

"Who _are_ you?" asked Sasuke (Guess he doesn't recognize him, thought Naruto), "You have the Sharingan—"

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried out. Sasuke's attention immediately turned to him, his eyes intense yet so visibly confused.

"Is he an Uchiha?" asked Tobirama, watching the event with mild bemusement.

"An Uchiha who doesn't recognize Madara?" asked Hashirama, frowning. He cast a glance at Naruto who seemed to be making intense eye contact with Sasuke.

Sasuke reacted immediately to the name Madara, although it was a very slight reaction. It didn't go unnoticed by the four men, and Tobirama smirked. He looked at Madara and asked, "Madara…you sure you haven't done anything?"

"I don't know an Uchiha Sasuke," said Izuna, looking over Sasuke, "He certainly looks like us. What about you, Madara?"

"You're Madara?" asked Sasuke in a low growl, pointing the katana at the said Uchiha. Madara just raised his eyebrows.

"Sasuke, don't do anything stupid!" Naruto shouted.

"That's my line, idiot!" Sasuke retorted, "What the hell happened? What did you do?!"

"Look around you and figure it out, ya bastard!" Naruto answered. Sasuke cringed slightly at being told to figure something out by the usually dense Naruto. However, he did so (somewhat grudgingly), surveying his surroundings. The man he first saw, the man he thought he recognized stood by another man he swore he recognize too. The spiky white hair reminded him of Kakashi, but the combination with the red eyes, and face markings really looked liked—Sasuke stopped at this thought. There was no way, yet…

He glanced back at this Madara, a Madara he certainly did not recognize. Not that he had seen the man behind the mask, but it is something else to see a young, mask-less man with really long hair as Uchiha Madara. This would only make sense if one of these three possibilities: 1) He was stuck in someone's (probably not Naruto since the blond shows no aptitude for this) genjutsu, perhaps cast by that strange girl, or 2) He was going insane or he ate something bad, and lastly, 3) if he dared to say it…_time-traveled. _He snorted mentally at himself. Right. Time travel. What was he, 5 years old? There has to be another explanation as to why he was seeing and possibly conversing with two dead Hokages, and the presumably young Uchiha Madara. _There has to be. _

"I take it you two aren't exactly buddies," muttered Tobirama looking between the two boys, "Either that or you two are so awfully close that name-calling is actually a sign of endearment…"

Both Sasuke and Naruto threw Tobirama irritated glares.

"Not that huh?" mumbled Tobirama, smiling sheepishly at the reactions.

"So kid," began Madara, his sharingan still activated, "You really an Uchiha?"

Sasuke answered by activating his sharingan, his normal three tomoe sharingan, of course. Madara smiled at the display, and Izuna looked surprised.

"Three tomoe already," said Izuna, "How come we have never heard of you?"

"Sasuke, wait!" Naruto dashed towards him, pulling backwards, "Don't you realize what's going on?!"

"Perfectly," answered Sasuke coolly, "We're both crazy. If not that…then…"

"Then what?" asked Hashirama, "How did the two of you get here anyways? This part of the forest belongs to the Senjus."

"Konoha," Sasuke said in a firm voice, ignoring Hashirama, "We've come—"

"Hahaha…Sasuke!" interrupted Naruto quickly, roughly shoving the Uchiha, "He agrees with me too that Konoha is a great name for a village!" Sasuke glared at him, but he seemed to get it and did not press the matter.

"You two are quite the fan of the name, aren't you?" asked Tobirama, forehead crinkled in question.

"Which is why if you guys decide to…you know…create a village, you should name of Konohagakure no sato!" exclaimed Naruto.

"You haven't answered my question," said Hashirama, his voice even but firm and serious, "Where are you two from?"

"Um…" Naruto began, but it was Sasuke who answered, "Naruto is from a small village on the outskirt of this country."

"What about you?" asked Tobirama, "You're an Uchiha through and through…yet Madara nor Izuna recognize you."

"Do Madara and Izuna know of everyone in the clan?" asked Sasuke, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, "It is a big clan. Besides, my family…we work for the clan abroad. I have come back to main clan to join and work under Uchiha Madara. Naruto is my…" he glanced at Naruto briefly, "…_companion_."

"Hm, that is true we don't know every Uchiha well," conceded Izuna, "And we do have shinobis working abroad…"

"So you've come to work under me?" asked Madara, looking amused, "Well, let's see how living abroad have strengthened a Uchiha—"

"Madara we will not have any fights!" Hashirama exclaimed irritably, "At least not now. Do that in your own time."

Madara looked slighted, but obeyed, much to the relief and surprise to the two boys. However, something told Sasuke he wasn't going to get off that easy. Madara had that usual 'I'll deal with you later' Uchiha expression, one that Sasuke have seen a lot of times of his father. However, the Madara's actually sent a chill down his spine. Now that hasn't happened since he imagined Kakashi's face with buckteeth and fish lips.

"What village are you from?" asked Hashirama, staring straight at Naruto with serious eyes. Naruto got a vague feeling he was going to be interrogated.

"Er…" Naruto's mind raced to think of a name, "Uzz…er…zzzohhhki? Uzoki? Right, I'm from Uzoki!" Sasuke suppressed an urge to facepalm.

"You don't seem too sure," prodded Hashirama.

"'Cause he's stupid…" Sasuke answered, "He hit his head hard, forgive him."

"Are you also joining the Uchihas too, Naruto-kun?" asked Tobirama.

"Hell no!" Naruto blurted out, "Not that crazy cl—"

"No," Sasuke cut him off sternly, "He wants to join you, Senju Hashirama-sama."

"Does he?" asked Hashirama, looking still a little suspicious of all of this.

"Yeah I do," Naruto confirmed with his signature sunny grin.

"Didn't you say you didn't know what Sasuke's last name was?" Tobirama asked Naruto.

"Er…I lied," Naruto said truthfully, "Being..cautious…you know…"

"Why would you be cautious about telling Uchihas that your friend was an Uchiha?" asked Izuna, frowning.

"Like I said…he's an idiot," answered Sasuke, much Naruto annoyance (_Shut up, bastard! I'm not!_)

"Well, the four of us are heading towards the Senju compound," said Hashirama, although he did not seem completely satisfied with them, "Join us then."

"We'll be glad to…" murmured Sasuke in response as Naruto replied with a characteristically energized, "Alright, we will!"

When the four men were reasonably out of earshot, Sasuke gripped Naruto's collar and roughly pulled him closer. He said in a low, cold voice, "Naruto, what the hell is going on? What did that girl do?"

Naruto's face wrinkled irritably as he struggled against Sasuke's grip, "Er, Sawagu-chan? She's a tree spirit! She sent us back in time!"

"Naruto," said Sasuke, his eyes glistening menacingly, "Run that by me _again_."

"She sent us back in time," Naruto repeated, nervously noting Sasuke's sinister look, wondering briefly if Sasuke decided he wanted to kill Naruto again, "We time traveled Sasuke!" Naruto sounded much too excited for Sasuke at that point. He released the blond from his grip and stared at him for several seconds. It would amazingly easy to kill him now, but with Senjus and the Uchihas not too far off, it probably wasn't the best route to take right at the moment…if he really did time traveled that is. And if he really _really _did…then…is trying to kill the Naruto still…valid? He couldn't destroy Konoha since there was no Konoha for him to destroy, nor could he take revenge for his family because the Uchiha clan was still thriving.

Sasuke closed his eyes, feeling deeply troubled. One moment the world was shit and he reveled in it, obsessed with tearing both the world and Naruto apart. Now his reasons to act bat shit insane and satisfy his bloodlust and revenge was suddenly turned on its head…_how the hell was he supposed to act in a situation like this?_

"So Sasuke," came Naruto's serious voice, "Let's call a truce."

Sasuke looked up and met his 'companion's' grave blue eyes, "Since we're in a strange situation and all, let's call a truce until we figure things out. If we really did…time travel…then, we probably should work together for now to figure out what we should do…_I mean, this doesn't happen everyday_…"

"Hm," Sasuke smirked, "It makes the most sense. That's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say, idiot."

"That's the sanest thing I ever heard you say in awhile, bastard," retorted Naruto, returning the smirk.

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_A/N: Lol Sasuke is having problems. His reason for being…well…Sasuke has been taken away for now…if he truly time traveled, then how can he claim revenge for something that haven't happened and will not happen until 80-100 years from then. XD _

_I've been rewatching/rereading Naruto so I could try to write more in character, but it's hard. Especially Sasuke! I don't want to write him all emo and angsty, but it's hard not to! It hurts to write emo angstiness! It burns! _

_Please leave a comment or review! If you see any glaring inconsistency, typos or grammatical errors, feel free to point them out! Thank you for reading!_


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